Well that is what I do, but then both you and I have the time to do this, although we sort of have to borrow it, and apparently due to work constraints the OP does not have the time to do this. I have no problem with them using the app to help them with this as it is still a process that can work due to the parrots needing to even learn the word before learning to use it properly. For me the cognitive speech part is more effective when it is included as part of the learning process like we teach children, but this way can work too.

Hmmmm, I am not sure that the parrot learning to repeat a word which is repeated over and over by a machine, and later showing it what the word means would really work in terms of teaching it cognitive speech. It might, I don't really know ... but it has to be much much harder on the bird, don't you think?

As far as I am aware of there are no books on this for any species of animal. Most people do not really consider that a birds speech is anything more than just mimicry. It has only been recently that it has been proven that some birds do indeed recognize various things or that they are capable of any of the more abstract forms of intelligence such as knowing that there is a difference between the integers of 1,3 and 0 and knowing what that difference is. There is only one way that I know of to teach your bird to speak cognitively and that is to speak to the bird cognitively. That is to say start by showing the bird an apple and saying apple, give it a bite of the apple and saying apple. In other words just as you would teach a small child what a door is by showing them the door and how it works by opening and closing it while telling it that this is a door. That is how you would go about teaching your bird to use the word door in a cognitive fashion. Show the bird one object and say one. Remove that object and show it a different object and say one to teach the bird one. Then show the bird two of the same objects to teach it two and so on.

You don't need to teach a bird cognition or even the concept of cognitive speech because they already have it! Parrots have their own language and use it to communicate among themselves. There have been over 500 sounds that have been identified as words and/or phrases they use all the time so, pet parrots, been imprinted to humans, learn human language to communicate with us the same way that we would learn another language if we moved to another country and could find nobody to speak ours.

The trick is to teach them the human language the right way - something most people don't do and why, sometimes, a parrot seems to repeat something without any real context to it. But, in reality, we don't know if this is what is really happening because, for all we know, the parrot could have learned that word thinking it meant something altogether different so what sounds like nonsense to us could very well have meaning for the parrot. For example, if every time you see the parrot, the first thing that comes out of your mouth is: "Hello - Hello - Hello" the parrot might think that Hello is either his or your name (my Linus thinks that Hello is my name and that his is Hi Linus). BUT if you say "Good morning" every single morning when you first uncover his cage or see the parrot in the morning and "Good night" every single night when you either cover his cage or everybody is going to sleep, he will learn to use both salutations in context.

Having said that, parrots intelligence (like humans' and any other animal) have a range, there are below average, average, above average and geniuses and, of course, the geniuses are going to be much better at learning that the others. But even the geniuses will make mistakes when taught the wrong way. My Sweetpea Senegal is a genius, he uses cognitive language to the point that I can have actual conversations with him but, if you go strictly by the way we use language, it will seem as if he makes mistakes. For example, to him, "Eat it!" means food in general. "Peeakabird? Peekabird?" means "May I have some of what you are eating?" "Ready? Ready?" means "It's food ready?" or "Where is my food?" And, sometimes. he gets confused. For example, he likes to come with me to the canary room while I do their cages and pesters me terribly asking me questions just to get my attention on him. One morning, he was driving me crazy with his favorite "Whachudoin?" to which I am supposed to answer "I'm doing the beebee birds" (he knows the beebee birds are the canaries) when I clean the cages or "Beebee birds eat it" when I give them their food. But it was hot, I was sweating and I was getting exasperated with him and when he asked me what I was doing while I was sweeping the room, I just answered "SWEEPING!" He stopped, looked at me for a couple of seconds and then said: "What's your name?" He thought I had said "Sweetpea!" which is the right answer to "What's your name?" And that's another one! If I ask him: "What's your name?" He will answer: "Sweetpeeeeeee!" and, if he asks me the same question, I also have to answer Sweetpea BUT I have to add: "That's my name!" (this is because I was trying to get him to learn to say that on his own but it kind of backfired because now he thinks it's a game we have). And, if I answer anything different, he will keep on asking and asking until he gets the 'right' answer to which he will reply "Right"

So, you see, it's not a matter of what they actually say but what they mean by it because, sometimes, saying the wrong thing can also be cognitive speech.

There is nothing wrong with using an app to teach your parrot to start talking if it works thats great. Then you have words they already know to start teaching them the context. just do whatever works.

I agree with what others have said and it isnt that important that they talk, as long as parrot and owner figure out how to communicate with each other that is all that is really needed.

seagoatdeb wrote:There is nothing wrong with using an app to teach your parrot to start talking if it works thats great. Then you have words they already know to start teaching them the context. just do whatever works.

I agree with what others have said and it isnt that important that they talk, as long as parrot and owner figure out how to communicate with each other that is all that is really needed.

I haven't tried an app to teach my birds to talk, but I have the luxury of being home now and can spend the time necessary to teach them. Most of my birds can say something and my most prolific talkers are my Ekkie and my Barrabands (superb parakeets) . They speak in context...particularly Joey, the Barraband. Although they are supposed to be moderate talkers, both Barrabands have an amazing vocabulary. I do speak to them in short sentences, which makes it easier for them to remember. Unfortunately, Joey has a potty mouth....partly my fault. He has put together phrases that I know were not said to him.I think that the different levels of ability to speak are probably intrinsic to each bird as part of their personality. I suspect that tone, pitch and repetition play a huge part in developing speech.Speech does add a dimension to the relationship between the bird and its human, but it isn't necessary to have a wonderful, unique relationship. Jmo.

I agree 100%, talk is nice but not really necessary for a good relationship or even understanding each other. My Zoey Senegal doesn't say a single word but she understand everything I tell her, obeys my commands and I can read her like a book.

And, yes, again, I do believe that although some species are more 'talkative' than others, there are individual levels of intelligence at work, too.... some are simply smarter than others.